Five Summer Activities for Kids
KEEPING YOUR KIDS BUSY (and off their devices) can feel like a full-time job. Finding fun and educational activities that fit their individual personalities and interests can be even harder. Feel free…
Read More
Smokey Bear Turns 80
“SMOKEY BEAR’S ‘GOTCHA DAY’ is in May,” says Smokey Bear Historical Park manager Mary Lavin, using the modern term for pet adoption anniversaries. The real-life orphan cub, who’d been badly burned in…
Read More
Best Places to Stay Near the Gila
BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS CAN PICK any spot and set up camp, although some of the more scenic sites are popular for a reason. When the water starts to feel warm as you walk along the Middle Fork of the…
Read More
To the Gila and Beyond
SEE THE GILA WILDERNESS like Aldo Leopold with a guided horseback trek from Joe Saenz, of Wolfhorse Outfitters, or Becky Campbell, of Gila Hot Springs Ranch. Hike to the undeveloped Lightfeather Hot…
Read More
Joe Saenz Makes Connections with the Land
H AVING RETURNED TO HIS ANCESTRAL lands almost 30 years ago, Joe Saenz shows people southwest New Mexico as his ancestors experienced it. Representing the Chiricahua Apache, who he believes are the…
Read More
Find These Plants in the Gila
THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST lists 51 plant species and 16 insect species as being of “management concern,” meaning they rely on National Forest habitats for their survival or are potentially affected by…
Read More
Five Gila Trails to Try
HAVING A VARIETY OF USABLE TRAILS is essential for experiencing the solitude that Aldo Leopold enjoyed, says Melissa Green, trails project coordinator of Gila Back Country Horsemen. “Keeping people…
Read More
Guardian of the Gila
PERCHED IN A STEEL LOOKOUT tower on Mogollon Baldy, Sara Irving has kept eyes on the Gila Wilderness for 42 summers. A hike along the Continental Divide Trail in 1980 prompted her to apply for a…
Read More
Quick Facts about the Gila Wilderness
755,000. Acres of the Gila National Forest administratively labeled as wilderness on June 3, 1924 1933. Year the original wilderness area was divided into the Gila and Aldo Leopold wildernesses, which…
Read More
The History of the Gila Cliff Dwellings
“THIS WHOLE MOUNTAIN VALLEY wasn’t some wilderness nobody visited,” says Dana Dick, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument’s lead interpretive park ranger. “It was home to people. There’s evidence of…
Read More